Disney emotionally damaging to overweight children now?
(deactivated member)
on 2/24/12 5:14 am - Canada
on 2/24/12 5:14 am - Canada
Ok so I'm going to go a bit "dr phil'ish" ....and please I'm not trying to be mean ...but really I'm standing up for your son.
It is our job at all cost as a parent to bake sure others are not hurting our kids. This is what your family is doing. If someone was abusing your child you would put a stop to it. This is what they are doing ...they are hurting your baby! My weight issues steems from my entire family of over eaters ...my mom and extended family. This is why I have made it VERY clear what is acceptable for my girls...PERIOD. If they dont understand oh well. If you want time with them you will respect my wishes...and for tge most part they all have. They secretly think I'm crazy and dening my kids of "being a kid" ...but that's okay with me....as long as they don't feed them crap.
As far as the eating in the middle of thr night ....here's dr Phil....they can't eat it if you don't have it. He's not going to get over weight from eating too many carrots or apples. Fill your fridge with healthy foods and he can eat all he wants. I know it seems I'm sounding holier than than ....I'm truely not trying to. I just get really pissed when j see over weight kids. I was that kid....I know that pain and it is COMPLETLY unnecessary. I have been on this horrble nightmare of a rollerblades for 95% of my life .....I'll be damned if my girls go threw same thing!
It is our job at all cost as a parent to bake sure others are not hurting our kids. This is what your family is doing. If someone was abusing your child you would put a stop to it. This is what they are doing ...they are hurting your baby! My weight issues steems from my entire family of over eaters ...my mom and extended family. This is why I have made it VERY clear what is acceptable for my girls...PERIOD. If they dont understand oh well. If you want time with them you will respect my wishes...and for tge most part they all have. They secretly think I'm crazy and dening my kids of "being a kid" ...but that's okay with me....as long as they don't feed them crap.
As far as the eating in the middle of thr night ....here's dr Phil....they can't eat it if you don't have it. He's not going to get over weight from eating too many carrots or apples. Fill your fridge with healthy foods and he can eat all he wants. I know it seems I'm sounding holier than than ....I'm truely not trying to. I just get really pissed when j see over weight kids. I was that kid....I know that pain and it is COMPLETLY unnecessary. I have been on this horrble nightmare of a rollerblades for 95% of my life .....I'll be damned if my girls go threw same thing!
(deactivated member)
on 2/24/12 5:33 am
on 2/24/12 5:33 am
Uh...yeah, about that plan. I was overweight as a child. My brother wasn't, though I don't think we ate that much differently. I regularly heard about how I was too big. I remember being denied seconds, while everyone else could have them. And my mom was hard core into old school Weigh****chers much of the time. For me the denial made snack foods and desserts special treats.
So once I was in junior high and had lunch money to spend I made terrible choices. I ate things like french fries and a shake for lunch and then spent the other money on vending machine crap. In high school my allowance had to cover lunch too, so lunch was often white rolls w/butter, or just fries, or peanut butter crackers and ice tea, becaus that stuff was cheap...rolls were a nickle, ice tea twenty cents. Then once I had a job, a car, and a little money of my own, it got worse...hello cheap fast food. My low point (IMO) was around age 19 when I was a serious bing eater...I would stay up in my room at night alternating sweet and salty foods until my jaw hurt from chewing.
Now this doesn't mean that denying a kid "crap" will always result in fetishizing of those foods, but it can happen. I haven't been a binge eater for a very long time now, but I gained the most weight at the worst time (13 - 16) because that happened to be when my parents could no longer control most of my food choices. And, BTW, it is sad that prior to that I wasn't really that big by today's standards at all, just a little chubby, but made to feel really ashamed of it.
I'm trying to walk a middle ground with my daughter by having some portioned controlled snacks available and not making them special. We'll see how that goes.
So once I was in junior high and had lunch money to spend I made terrible choices. I ate things like french fries and a shake for lunch and then spent the other money on vending machine crap. In high school my allowance had to cover lunch too, so lunch was often white rolls w/butter, or just fries, or peanut butter crackers and ice tea, becaus that stuff was cheap...rolls were a nickle, ice tea twenty cents. Then once I had a job, a car, and a little money of my own, it got worse...hello cheap fast food. My low point (IMO) was around age 19 when I was a serious bing eater...I would stay up in my room at night alternating sweet and salty foods until my jaw hurt from chewing.
Now this doesn't mean that denying a kid "crap" will always result in fetishizing of those foods, but it can happen. I haven't been a binge eater for a very long time now, but I gained the most weight at the worst time (13 - 16) because that happened to be when my parents could no longer control most of my food choices. And, BTW, it is sad that prior to that I wasn't really that big by today's standards at all, just a little chubby, but made to feel really ashamed of it.
I'm trying to walk a middle ground with my daughter by having some portioned controlled snacks available and not making them special. We'll see how that goes.
I have mixed emotions about this topic. The Disney experience is hard on fat people even without that kind of ride. Fitting on rides and through turnstiles and the discomfort of just standing in line when you are obese can be hell. I do like the idea of education about health and the human body in Epcot Center. I don't like that the villains are all fat. I would have to really experience the ride to make a judgment. What is crazy is that when you step off of that ride you can probably buy a coke a corn dog and some cotton candy within 15 feet of the exit, but would have to walk a good deal further and spend twice as much money for a healthy meal in any Disney owned park. It also makes me think of the rides sponsored by coke! Is that ride open yet? Has anybody ridden it? I'd love see more of the content.
putting one foot in front of the other... 
I worked at Walt Disney World as a college intern. I weighed about 240lbs and was told flat out because of my size I could not work in areas the guest would see me. Disney has certain standards on the emplyees who work with the public including weight limits, your teeth and looks. If you do not have the "disney" look you will not be working postitions with the public. (Obviously there were times I was within the public but in genralI could not get a job say working on Main St USA.)
I worked at the costuming department and the highest the clothes went up to were a size 18- but that was ONLY for the housekeeping staff.
I agree with Shea G! It is our responsibility as parents to inform our children about eating right, and that doesn't mean we are at fault if our children are overwieght. I have five children, and only one of them is overweight! I don't feed him any differently than my other children. sometimes genes play a big part in our metabolism and habits. I recently took him to children's hospital weight management clinic, and a nutritionist gave him some really good tools to work with, including a visual plate of portion sizes, and a 5-10 rule (nothing over 5 grams of fat or 10 grams of sugar per serving). He is 11 and he is taking it pretty seriously!! I think Disney has the right idea.... we need to educate our kids, and this is a fun way to do it! It's not emotionally damaging, our kids need to know what happens when we make bad food choices or don't exercise!!!
Leah
Leah
I think addressing childhood obesity is such a sensitive topic. I know for me, I wasn't a big kid until puberty hit, and then I went from small to extra large in one summer. When people started commenting on how big I was, I stopped exercising because all I could see in my head was blubber bouncing when I ran. I kept eating when I was full because food made me feel good and if I was going to be fat anyways, I might as well enjoy all the food I wanted.
I don't know the answer, but I think we do need to be careful about our message to kids about their self image, their weight, and focus on healthy habits instead of an image or size. I still remember my grandma telling me 18 years ago "You have such a pretty face. If you would just lose weight, you could attract a good guy." I was 11! But that voice resounded so deep in my head that I thought I wasn't worth a guy's efforts because I wasn't skinny. I would get so dejected and depressed, I stopped trying. Words can cut so deeply. We need to be gentle with ourselves and with others. We need to approach the childhood obesity epidemic with caring and compassion, not guilting people into changing their habits or encouraging even subconsciously mistreatement of people who are bigger than we are.
Disney is so creative - could they find another way to get this message out? Maybe skinny villains setting up traps of sweets and lack of activity? I guess we'd have a different reaction if it was race and not weight. What if the heroes were one race and the villains were another? Would we see an outrage from the public? Absolutely!
And on a side note, to the poster who said you CAN tell some one's health by looking on the outside, I would invite you to pm me. When I went for my surgery consult, I was told that everything in my medical record was HEALTHY. All of my numbers were within the normal limits. The only thing that qualified me for surgery was my weight. My blood pressure has always been fine, my cholesterol is fine, my numbers on every test were fine. I was 100% healthy. I won't say I wasn't at risk for serious health conditions, but you can NOT judge some one by the outside on whether they are healthy or not.
Amy
I don't know the answer, but I think we do need to be careful about our message to kids about their self image, their weight, and focus on healthy habits instead of an image or size. I still remember my grandma telling me 18 years ago "You have such a pretty face. If you would just lose weight, you could attract a good guy." I was 11! But that voice resounded so deep in my head that I thought I wasn't worth a guy's efforts because I wasn't skinny. I would get so dejected and depressed, I stopped trying. Words can cut so deeply. We need to be gentle with ourselves and with others. We need to approach the childhood obesity epidemic with caring and compassion, not guilting people into changing their habits or encouraging even subconsciously mistreatement of people who are bigger than we are.
Disney is so creative - could they find another way to get this message out? Maybe skinny villains setting up traps of sweets and lack of activity? I guess we'd have a different reaction if it was race and not weight. What if the heroes were one race and the villains were another? Would we see an outrage from the public? Absolutely!
And on a side note, to the poster who said you CAN tell some one's health by looking on the outside, I would invite you to pm me. When I went for my surgery consult, I was told that everything in my medical record was HEALTHY. All of my numbers were within the normal limits. The only thing that qualified me for surgery was my weight. My blood pressure has always been fine, my cholesterol is fine, my numbers on every test were fine. I was 100% healthy. I won't say I wasn't at risk for serious health conditions, but you can NOT judge some one by the outside on whether they are healthy or not.
Amy
(deactivated member)
on 2/24/12 5:59 am - Canada
on 2/24/12 5:59 am - Canada
As for "about my plan" ...I never said I deny my children from having junk food. Of coarse we do ...but it's in moderation. As far as one sibling being heavy and the other not....well we all know that genetics plays a roll. Possibly your brother was fortunate enough to not to have that passed down. HOWEVER...my genetics don't make me fat...they predisposition me to be that way...but I didn't get this way by eating celery and apples and the occasional French fry. My friend and I don't eat much different and she's skinny as a tooth pick and me...well here I am. Does that mean well it's obviously not the food ...otherwise she'd be like me?? I think not. People get so up I'm arms when you talk about why their kids are heavy ....it's because they feel guilty. Let's just all relax and realize no one says your a bad mom ....just making bad choices. That is why we are all here to begin with wrong life/food choices!
I have a daughter that was 80lbs overweight, she gained that weight by sneaking food, outside of my home
between the ages of 12 & 17. She matured and woke up when she graduated from high school and lost
the 80lbs in one year on her own by dieting and exercising. She admits now that I had nothing to do with
her weight gain, she was being rebellious and knew that her weight would bother me. I said to her well
who did you really hurt by being that way and she said yeah I know I only hurt myself! I was being young
& dumb! I was not heavy myself back then & I tried everything to get her on track, she had to realize
on her own I guess. She said hey alot of my friends did drugs & had sex, I was addicted to food. She is
25 now still thin & works out everyday because she is happy with herself now.
between the ages of 12 & 17. She matured and woke up when she graduated from high school and lost
the 80lbs in one year on her own by dieting and exercising. She admits now that I had nothing to do with
her weight gain, she was being rebellious and knew that her weight would bother me. I said to her well
who did you really hurt by being that way and she said yeah I know I only hurt myself! I was being young
& dumb! I was not heavy myself back then & I tried everything to get her on track, she had to realize
on her own I guess. She said hey alot of my friends did drugs & had sex, I was addicted to food. She is
25 now still thin & works out everyday because she is happy with herself now.
I don't think it is bad to give kids the correct information about the junk food. But I have never seen this at Disneyland nor heard anything about it... I will have to check out my mousewait info and as my cast member friends. Possibly Disney World but will have to check into that.
Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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